First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

"Is this a communication artifact? Where did you find it?" Elder Yanfu asked coldly.

"Elder Qi, this was found in room number three."

"Whose residence is number three?"

Elder Yanfu looked sharply at Old Yu.

Old Yu collapsed to the ground, waving his hands incoherently, "I...I didn't, I didn't!"

A disciple from the Enforcement Hall sneered, "This is what we found in your room, and you still dare to deny it! How could a mere outer disciple afford a communication device? It must have been given to you by Huang Bin."

"I didn't, I really didn't, I don't know anything about communication artifacts!" Old Yu was already in tears, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing desperately.

Xu Mu could easily see through this clumsy trick.

It's so black, so damn black.

"We have both witnesses and physical evidence. Let's take the person back for trial first. What do you think, Elder Cuixin?" Elder Yanfu said.

Elder Cuixin glanced at Lao Yu, then looked at the others and asked calmly, "What do you have to say?"

Uncle Lu, Fatty, and the others looked at each other, lowered their heads, and dared not speak.

Xu Mu couldn't help but speak up: "Old Yu isn't that kind of person. When he taught me how to care for spiritual herbs, he specifically emphasized that we must not damage them, and we must not keep anything for ourselves. How could he knowingly break the law?"

"Xiao Xu..." Old Yu looked up at him, crying, as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Alas, you can know a person's face but not their heart," sighed Wu Zongping, who was standing on the side of the field guard.

"Senior Brother Wu!" Old Yu was dumbfounded.

If his colleagues present could defend him, he would most likely be able to escape punishment. However, Wu Zongping sighed and said, "I'm sorry, Lao Yu. Although I'm willing to believe you, we have both witnesses and physical evidence. You should cooperate with the investigation."

"I didn't!" Old Yu shouted excitedly.

"Xiao Xu, Xiao Xu, please tell them quickly, I could never do such a thing!"

He frantically grabbed Xu Mu's leg.

Xu Mu looked at Elder Cui Xin, hesitating before speaking, when Wu Zongping said calmly, "Perhaps he has accomplices? Only by covering for each other can they manage to conceal their activities so well."

Upon hearing this, Xu Mu was also startled, and the words he was about to say caught in his throat.

Elder Cui Xin said calmly, "The sect leader and all the elders were furious about this matter. There was a problem with the whole process, but no one reported it. Everyone took it for granted, and this mistake has been going on for over a hundred years."

Having been gnawed by rats for over a hundred years, is this something that Huang Bin, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and a few outer disciples could accomplish?

Some people not only take the resources allocated by the sect, but also secretly line their own pockets; they are truly insatiable.

The pharmacists are the most vigilant and can do the least. There is only one entrance and exit, and they all have to be inspected by the field guards. Do you think these few outer disciples in the Qi Refining stage can steal spiritual herbs right under your noses?

If there are indeed accomplices, then those accomplices must be you, the field keeper.

She glanced indifferently at Elder Yanfu, then swept her gaze over Wu Zongping.

Elder Yanfu remained expressionless, his face serious.

Wu Zongping bowed calmly and lowered his head accordingly.

"Have you checked all the residences of the field keeper?" Elder Yanfu asked.

"We checked everything, but there wasn't much. It should all be in their storage bags," said a disciple from the Enforcement Hall.

"Bring out everyone's storage bags and rings," Elder Yanfu said in a deep voice.

"You are the same." He looked at the pharmacists.

Everyone naturally cooperated obediently.

Elder Cui Xin watched the farce unfold quietly.

It would be strange if this kind of investigation could uncover anything suspicious.

But she couldn't think of how to investigate this matter, or what to do if she found out something.

The time span is too long, and now even the missing scraps can't be found. Huang Bin said that if they were refined into pills and eaten, there's nothing that can be done.

In the end, perhaps only the art of soul searching can confirm the truth of Huang Bin's words.

However, the Soul Searching Technique has many flaws and is also prone to misjudgment.

For example, a person sees a white sheep and then sees a black sheep.

After searching the soul, the practitioner may only find memories of seeing white or black, and conclude that sheep are only one color.

Moreover, after the soul search, the person being searched will suffer damage to their soul, become mentally impaired, and the information found will become increasingly chaotic.

Therefore, soul-searching techniques can only be used as a final, auxiliary means, and cannot be used as the sole basis for conviction, otherwise it is easy to deceive.

At this point, everyone emptied the contents of their storage bags.

Xu Mu's secondhand storage bag was very old, the inscriptions on it were almost worn away, and the contents that came out were so poor that one couldn't be bothered to look at them.

The other pharmacists didn't have much either; their bottles and jars contained only first-grade spiritual herbs, or at most second-grade, not even worth checking what kind of spiritual herbs they were.

The three people guarding the fields, including Wu Zongping, were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, and none of them seemed suspicious.

In the end, only the communication artifact in Lao Yu's room became the evidence to convict him, and he was taken away for questioning.

Xu Mu watched this scene helplessly.

Wu Zongping glanced at him, as if he had offended him.

Xu Mu felt helpless; behind this peaceful life of farming, there was clearly a deep shadow lurking.

……

A few days later, I heard that Old Yu's cultivation had been crippled and he had been imprisoned. Although he wasn't executed, he didn't have many years left to live.

The three field guards were replaced, and it was said that they were convicted of negligence and punished accordingly.

Huang Bin committed suicide out of fear of punishment, and more than ten other inner disciples were punished.

Ultimately, all talk and no action, and the matter was dropped.

Xu Mu and the other herbalists were just lowly laborers; after a few sighs, they could only continue farming.

These days are getting worse and worse.

It was another morning, and as usual, he found a cliff to meditate and hone his sword intent.

When he opened his eyes, Yan Qing was standing silently beside him, also with her eyes closed, seemingly also contemplating.

After Xu Mu noticed him, he opened his eyes as well.

He looked at Xu Mu and said, "The Yulongtian incident didn't seem to affect your state of mind."

Xu Mu was somewhat surprised to hear this. Why would an inner sect master care about a nobody like him from the outer sect?

He shrugged and said, "What can I do? I can only continue cultivating."

Aside from being more cautious, they can indeed be described as calm and unhurried.

His years of life experience told him that there was no use in rushing.

Yan Qing nodded slightly, looked at the rising sun in the distance, and said, "Many cultivators in the immortal sects are no different from ordinary mortals in the mortal world."

Upon hearing this, Xu Mu suddenly realized that they had such a common topic.

He nodded and sighed, "Yes, many people cultivate themselves, but it's just a way of pursuing their own desires and ambitions in another direction."

Yan Qing looked at him and said thoughtfully, "Your words are more insightful than mine."

Xu Mu smiled and said, "You flatter me. These are just my thoughts after being criticized."

Yan Qing turned her gaze back to the horizon and said softly, "I was born into a royal family in the mortal world. I have been accustomed to intrigue and deceit since childhood. I originally wanted to transcend the world and cultivate in peace, but I never expected that there is no paradise in this world."

Xu Mu stood up and said with a smile, "Wherever there are people, there is a world of intrigue; there's no need to take it to heart."

Yan Qing looked at him: "Your cultivation is low, yet you can remain so calm and composed. It is truly admirable."

"...You flatter me." Xu Mu wasn't sure if this counted as a compliment, so he could only offer a perfunctory polite response.

Yan Qing calmly added, "Be careful from now on. In my opinion, this matter is far from over; it's just the beginning."

"Start? What start?" Xu Mu suddenly became a little nervous. Was this not over yet? He was about to be implicated.

"The beginning of the struggle."

"Please enlighten me, senior brother, and don't be a riddle teller." Xu Mu bowed sincerely.

Yan Qing glanced at him, then rested her chin on her hand in thought: "You're just an outer disciple, perhaps you shouldn't know so much..."

Xu Mu said speechlessly, "You spoke first, but you didn't finish your sentence. What's the point?"

Yan Qing thought for a moment and said, "That's true."

So he explained the current situation within the sect to Xu Mu.

The incident in Yulongtian was actually not a big deal; only some scraps of medicinal herbs were lost.

Most importantly, it exposed a problem—there were people within the sect abusing their power for personal gain, possibly those at the Core Formation Elder level or above.

Within the sect, rewards are always distributed based on merit, with more work resulting in more pay and less work resulting in less pay. Inner disciples are more talented, so they are directly allocated rewards. In the future, the sect will rely on inner disciples to support itself, so no one objects to the inner disciples receiving more than outer disciples.

However, with numerous factions within the inner sect and each Core Formation Elder having their own disciples, the amount of resources available to each other has always been a point of contention, but at least it's still considered fair.

However, nowadays some people abuse their power for personal gain, and some resources are stolen before they are even allocated.

If things end so hastily, how can the other elders be satisfied? It will also raise suspicions that only the medicinal herbs in the Jade Dragon Field are experiencing this problem.

Therefore, Yan Qing believed that a conflict was bound to break out within the sect.

"This was a slip of the tongue on my part; please do not tell any third party," Yan Qing emphasized calmly.

Xu Mu nodded and repeatedly assured that he would not say anything more.

Yan Qing had only wanted to talk to him, and feeling that he was trustworthy, she didn't say anything more and took her leave.